Bringing CAFE style flexibility to appliance standards can improve program efficiency if implemented carefully. A pilot program with limited trading scope can provide insights for future implementation.

Using data from natural gas distribution utilities on expenditures and volume of methane leaked, this paper estimates the amount of money utilities are spending to abate leaks. Expenditures are suboptimal at less than the cost of gas itself.

RFF’s Roger Cooke discusses the confidence trap and how current conversations about climate change misallocate the burden of proof. Cooke was a lead author of the chapter on risk and uncertainty in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report.

In 2008, former RFF President Emery Castle contributed the following article to Resources magazine, discussing the role of place in environmental economics. In memory of Dr. Castle, Resources is republishing.

Satellite data are valuable to society when they are used to make decisions that affect our well-being. Documenting these use cases can help demonstrate return on investment in satellites and data applications, and shape priorities across future investments.

The shale revolution has created substantial climate benefits in the near term and provided an even larger opportunity in the long term. Wise policy choices and technological breakthroughs are still essential for a more effective response to climate change in the future.

The urgent need to look beyond short-term setbacks in US climate policy should spur greater collaboration between the financial world and climate economists and scientists to address longer-term financial risks related to climate change.